Em-URGE-ing Voices

Posts Categorized: Summer

Five Ways the California Bill to Provide Condoms in Prison Falls Short

The California State Senate recently approved a bill to provide condoms to currently incarcerated adult prisoners. The controversial piece of legislation would require five adult prisons to have condoms available by 2015 and the other 33 by 2020. If passed, California would become the second state in the union to provide condoms in prison, next to Vermont. The legislation would provide an important resource to incarcerated people and help to protect those in incarceration from the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections Nonetheless, the initiative to provide condoms to prisoners is merely a band-aid solution to a much bigger problem. Here are five additional things California needs to do in order to fully protect vulnerable prison populations.

Assembly Bill 154 and Young Californians: Increasing Access to Safe Abortion Care

California is nationally recognized as one of the most progressive states in the Union and a national trendsetter for progressive issues, including reproductive justice.  In fact, I am proud to report that the Golden State has none of the major types of abortion restrictions, such as waiting periods, mandated parental involvement or limitations on publicly funded abortions, in place. However, our lack of legal roadblocks to safe, affordable, and accessible abortion care do not mean that every Californian has the same kind of access or that access is uninhibited.  In fact, my home state is the perfect example of why the fight for reproductive justice is always important and never finished.  Assembly Bill 154, or the Early Access to Abortion Bill, is the next piece of vital legislation for Californians,… Read more »